USA soccer fans on emotional see-saw

Sunday

Jun 22, 2014 at 10:20 PMJun 22, 2014 at 10:46 PM

WORCESTER — It's not just soccer households that have been tuning in, as sports bars across Worcester flipped to ESPN for Sunday's high-stakes World Cup showdown, which ended in a 2-2 draw after a heartbreaking equalizer by the Portuguese in added time. "Even people that don't know a lot about soccer I think are paying attention a little bit more, or it seems that way," said Sutton High School boys' soccer coach Mike Elster.

By Carl Setterlund CORRESPONDENT

WORCESTER — Sutton High School boys' soccer coach Mike Elster was recently at the Italian restaurant Nuovo on Shrewsbury Street celebrating his oldest son Ryan's high school graduation when the conversation turned to — what else? — soccer.

Elster and his sons Ryan, Jordan and Brandon ended up in an animated discussion with executive chef and owner Aleksander Gjonca about the ongoing World Cup in Brazil, showing that soccer fever has finally spread to Worcester.

"It just seems like everyone's talking about it," said Elster, who reported that he and his kids "had a bunch of people over" to watch Sunday night's crucial clash between the United States and Portugal. "Even people that don't know a lot about soccer I think are paying attention a little bit more, or it seems that way."

It's not just soccer households that have been tuning in, as sports bars across Worcester flipped to ESPN for Sunday's high-stakes showdown, which ended in a 2-2 draw after a heartbreaking equalizer by the Portuguese in added time.

Aaron Walker bartends at The Perfect Game on Water Street, and said the atmosphere has been as electric as Boston Bruins playoff games in May.

"It brings everybody together because there's nothing else on right now," said Walker, adorned in the latest national team garb. "It doesn't matter what sport you normally watch, it's a United States thing right now. It gives everyone a reason to scream and yell and have fun. Once they start getting into it, it's nuts."

Down the street at the Worcester's only designated soccer bar, The Grey Hound Pub, the environment could best be described as standing room, with bedlam breaking out after team captain Clint Dempsey scored in the 81st minute.

The air just as quickly went out of the building when Portugal tallied on the final play of the game, but the United States remains tied with Germany atop Group G, having won a 2-1 thriller over World Cup rival Ghana on Monday.

Worcester native Brendan O'Dowd, 25, is a member of the U.S. National Team supporters' group, the American Outlaws. He said the Grey Hound was even busier on Sunday than for the team's opening match.

"This World Cup, I feel like it's kind of crossed over into the general consciousness," O'Dowd said. "It's helped along by a lot of stuff like the FIFA video games, you can stream on ESPN3. It's really easily available to anyone."

Matt Beauregard, a rising senior and star forward at Shepherd Hill Regional, said he has noticed the same thing among his peers in Charlton and Dudley.

"The USA games are getting a lot of support from everyone around here, not just the soccer guys," Beauregard said.

Gjonca, a native Albanian who roots for the U.S. and Italy (where he previously lived), said he hasn't hesitated to put the World Cup on over Red Sox games.

The United States can determine its own fate, able to clinch a spot in the round of 16 with a win or tie against superpower Germany on Thursday.

Advancing past the group stage would be nothing new for the U.S., which has made it through in three of the last six World Cups.

This year, however, is different, in part because the red, white and blue were considered a long shot to advance out of the "Group of Death," the term given to what is considered to be the toughest group in the tournament.

Ghana had beaten the United States in each of the previous two World Cups, while Germany and Portugal are ranked in the top four of FIFA's world rankings.

"I think over time people have come to appreciate what (soccer) is," Elster said. "At times, baseball's not a very high scoring game either. I think the interest has picked up, and this World Cup has been even more exciting than most."

The U.S. game against Ghana set an ESPN men's soccer record, pulling in more than 11 million viewers.

Nearly 5 million people also watched the Spanish-language broadcast on Univision, and over 3 million people streamed the game online.

In comparison, the most viewed American men's soccer game came in the 2010 World Cup, the U.S. fell to Ghana in the round of 16. That game pulled in 15.2 million viewers on ABC and another 4.2 million on Univision.

However, with the knockout rounds typically drawing higher viewership, a better comparison might be when the United States played Ghana in the 2006 group stage. That game drew just 5.5 million viewers, according to Nielson ratings.

Although ratings for Worcester weren't released, the U.S.-Ghana game was especially popular in New England.

In Boston, it was the most watched World Cup game, while Hartford-New Haven and Providence were also top-eight viewership markets nationally.

"It's got a long way to go, but this is the best I've ever seen it," O'Dowd said of the appreciation for the World Cup games across Central Mass.

"I think this team has the potential to really get through that barrier of relevance for U.S. soccer."